So far I'm 50% overall on CPU-eligible flights this year. 40% success rate during peak hours and 60% success rate during off-peak hours, based on an admittedly subjective definition of peak.

I got one of those CPUs when a flight was delayed by five hours. Made the whole thing a lot less miserable. Maybe that's one tweak that UA can make. Be a bit more generous with CPUs during anticipated ATC delays, and maybe sell a few more TODs when the sky is blue.

As a 1K, I'm flying domestic later this week with my wife, who's also a 1K, on connecting flights. We're on the same record. I've been pulling up my record every day this week to see what FC looks like; one flight is a long dinner flight, and I'd particularly like to get that upgrade.

When I looked today, we had been upgraded on one of our flights (not the one I'm particularly interested in, but I'll take anything these days). Oddly, I never received an email and no FC seats were assigned on the flight that cleared. I'm glad I looked because there were only 2 FC seats left together, so I'm glad I "notified myself" and grabbed them.

Is the "missing seat assignment" problem a new glitch? Previously, I've always been given seats, even when I have a travelling companion and seats together weren't available. If they're not going to assign seats, it's obviously is a good idea to keep checking your flights during the upgrade window and grabbing your own seats.

Also, I previously received "elite upgrade notification" emails, but it seems like those have stopped the last couple of months. Is that a glitch, or just random?

Finally, is there any consensus on whether elites holding the same status should split their records to better snag upgrades? As I said, my wife and I were upgraded together on a flight 3 days in advance -- that's better luck than I usually have, so it seems OK to be 1Ks in the same record. But is there any chance of being "passed over" for an upgrade if you're not split? Obviously, if you're still on the CPU list at check-in time, you then split the record.

Is the short (upgraded) flight a CR7? Seating assignment issues with these aircraft are a known issue as they are adding more seats and renumbering rows.

For the longer flight: Are RPU's or miles an option?

They still send the e-mails. They frequently got caught in our spam filter.

I never get these upgrade e-mails...

Mostly because I never (rarely) get upgraded...

In my experience, the CPU is not improving. I am usually flying out of IAH or EWR though, so my experience is probably not the best barometer.

I'm at about 71% for the year, usually flying between ORD and DCA/IAD at peak business travel times. Reasonably happy with this.

Any numbers, %'s, etc?

I'm with star_world. My flights are almost exclusively transcons from EWR or PHL, with stops sometimes for MR purposes. I'm pretty happy with that batting average (not listed here, as the signature changes), even as a 1K, considering the proliferation of N fares I keep buying (in essence, I'm the lowest 1K).

Nope. It's a 737. For some reason, the computer just decided not to give us seats.

I don't have any RPUs to use. But even if I did, I don't think I'd use them when there are 10 FC seats left 3 days before the flight. Of course, I might still not get the upgrade: the odds are probably 50% that we'll be left as number 1 and 2 on the standby list.

Notification just seems random. Even when I was regularly getting notified, it seemed to happen only half the time for me. Oh, well -- of all the glitches, this is probably one I care the least about. I guess if the notification system was more reliable, it would save me some "I wonder if I've been upgraded yet" clicks onto ua.com during the upgrade window when I'm bored.

i can definitely say my percentage is improving as a 1K in NYC (i usually fly from EWR but sometimes throw in LGA and JFK). all flights have been domestic/mexico this year - 62 segments on UA/UAX.

TOTAL UAX FLIGHTS - 24 segments
UAX single cabin - 18 segments

UAX dual cabin upgraded - 5 segments
UAX dual cabin not upgraded - 1 segment
(upgrade percentage on UAX with F is 83%)


TOTAL UA MAINLINE FLIGHTS - 38 segments
upgraded - 29 segments
not upgraded - 9 segments
(upgrade percentage on UA mainline is 76%)

of those 9 segments not upgraded, 7 were flights before March 15, 2013. and of those 9 segments not upgraded, 5 were SDC flights at the last minute.

so my upgrade percentage prior to March 15th was 59% and since March 15th has been 90% on UA mainline flights. things are looking up for this 1K.

I can comment on your last paragraph. Mr. F, and I, both 1K's have had much better success getting upgrades since we have started booking separate records. I don't have stats available, but it is well over 90%, usually flying DEN-SJC-DEN.

As another NYC flyer, I've had a similar trend. I fly from EWR mostly (coming from west side of NYC) with some LGA for IAH connections mostly. I have had a substantially better upgrade percentage from May-Aug (upgraded on almost all flights) versus Jan-April (somewhere near 40%). I even got companion upgrades on LAX-IAH and IAH-LGA two weeks ago, which was a shocker. It's been a good run recently, so I'm sure I just jinxed myself.

Really? Interesting. Of course nothing in the upgrade process with UA would surprise me.

I wonder if your experience is random, or if having 2 seats "together" would slow down the processing -- like if only 1 seat became available. Frankly, I wouldn't care, if the computer just "stopped" upgrades until 2 seats became available -- or it became 24 hours before the flight and the records were split. But I do wonder if the computer somehow "passes over you" if you're two and gives it to a solo traveler below you on the list. If it's the latter, it's obviously best to always split the record in advance.

lack of notification and lack of seat assignment at upgrade are the norm for me. i have not received an upgrade notification email in months and the ones i did receive in the past were completely random (eg, i would get one on one flight and not for the next flight on the PNR).

unfortunately this is yet another place where you have to put in your own personal touch point. on flights where i am "expecting" (dare i say entitled to? ) a CPU, i have to try to remember to go in shortly after each upgrade window to self assign a seat if the CPU did indeed process

Based on my recent interactions with agents and everything I've read, this is exactly how it works. If you aren't split, you need R2 or you get skipped. The computer won't "wait" to accrue more R inventory for the 2 person PNR.